Apple

Tuna is a good source of protein if you’re looking to temporarily ditch the chicken. I’m always interested in anything that ends with the word salad; chicken and tuna both, but I’m especially interested when you can cut the calories in half by using yogurt. And while yogurt is ideal, it can also lack a little bit of flavor. This is where apple and celery come in. The sweetness of diced apple pieces and the crunch of celery make this meal an easy repeat offender.

Another day means another apple recipe. I had a few that I baked that I didn’t get a chance to take pictures of to post along with a recipe because they went too quick! But since it’s a Wednesday afternoon and I’m the only one home, I was able to bake up a batch of these delicious apple muffins and snap a few photos. Hopefully they are devoured by someone(s) other than me. Diets can be hard, especially around the fall time when everything is baked.

Homemade Apple Muffins

2017-09-20 11:11:50

Yields 18

A simple recipe using fresh apples to bake a delicious, flavor-packed muffin.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners or well-grease pan. Set aside.

Using a large bowl add granulated sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla extract. Use a large wooden spoon to combine ingredients until well mixed.

In a medium size bowl shift together flour, soda, cinnamon and salt. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients (sugar, etc) in the large bowl; mixing well. Batter will be thick! Add diced apples, stirring well. At this point your batter will become a little easier to work with.

Split into 12 paper liners carefully, filling about ¾ of each. You’ll have leftover batter to make an additional 4-6 more muffins after baking the first dozen. Sprinkle a pinch of brown sugar onto the top of each muffin.

Bake for 20-24 minutes. Allow to cool about 5-10 minutes before handling.

It’s Day 2 of my Apple Recipe Week and today I’ve baked an Apple Pie for the very first time. As expected, I’ve already got my cheat-meal pants on because this pie recipe is pretty darn delicious; I knew so when I read one of the ingredients were 8 peeled apples! Plus it’s nothing too complex. I didn’t want to dive into the deep end of pie baking for my first round. Maybe I can do the fancy crust toppings my second time around.

If you’re using a store-bought pie crust (and that’s perfectly OK to do), bake accordingly prior so that the pie is prepared and ready.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Using a medium size saucepan, melt butter. Next add flour and stir until you’ve created a thick paste. Slowly add brown sugar, granulated sugar and water, mixing well and allowing to come to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to simmer and allow to cook for an additional 5 minutes.

Happy Fall! Yesterday we spent the later of the day apple picking at a fruit farm just a little outside of the city. Fall is especially my favorite time of the year because of events like this. I love baking, especially when the weather has just begun to cool down and you can leave the windows open while spending an afternoon in the kitchen. I am sure we will either run out of apples or my family will grow tired of eating all-things-apples before I can try all the recipes I want to, but I sure am going to try and cram as many in as I can!

So I deem this and possibly next week as “Apple Recipe Week(s).” This first recipe is Apple Cinnamon Bread, something that didn’t take very many apples (just 1 large to be precise) but smells and tastes like you baked a dozen. You don’t need to visit a fruit farm to make these recipes, unless you really want to. Most only ask for a handful of apples or less.

It’s September and to me that’s basically fall. AKA apple pickin’ time. Last year we visited a local apple (and various other grown fruits and vegetables) farm and picked enough to make a serious amount of slow-cooker apple sauce and some cute little mini apple pies. However, I think that this year I would like to branch out a little more with my apple recipes and try some new things. This little dip recipe isn’t new, but it sure is delicious and takes less than 5 minutes to whip up for a quick mid-day treat.

Having fruit for a snack is a for-sure way to stay on the healthy path. Especially if you’re eating apples as they contain no fat, sodium or cholesterol and are a good source of fiber. Pair them with some peanut butter for protein and greek yogurt for your nutrients and you have an extremely good-for-you dip.